CHAPTER XIII 



THE story of this strange adventure made such an im- 

 pression on our minds that we decided to change the 

 programme of our tour, and instead of continuing our 

 march by the military road, as we had intended, resolved 

 to go through the forest instead in the hopes of perhaps 

 obtaining a shot at this " rogue." 



In addition to the necessity for destroying so dangerous 

 an animal, this opportunity of adding an elephant to our 

 bag seemed to us too good a one to be lost, for although 

 wild elephants were plentiful in the district and were a 

 constant source of danger to travellers by the road, it was 

 not until one of them had proved itself to be actually 

 dangerous to human life that the game laws of the period 

 allowed of its being shot. But although we had decided 

 to travel through the forest, it was not an undertaking to 

 be easily accomplished. In the first place, the distance to 

 the sub-divisional headquarters, where we were bound, 

 was over twenty miles, which through such dense jungle 

 would occupy two days at least, one mile an hour and 

 that only during daylight being the most we could hope 

 to make good in one day. Secondly, the journey being 

 only possible on elephants, we had to travel light, hence 

 could take no tents, but sleep as best we might under some 

 sheltering tree ; and as to food, tinned soups and meat 

 would be our only fare, for to light a fire in the forest was 

 strictly against rules. 



However, in spite of these discomforts staring us in the 

 face, we were not to be deterred, so having sent off our 

 tents, howdahs, and camp equipage by road, we started 

 from our camp, to which we had come down the night 

 before, early one morning a day or two after Christmas Day, 

 and entering the forest almost immediately, commenced 

 104 



